Overcoming the
Dissection Paradigm in
High School Biology
“We can judge the
heart of a man by
his treatment
of animals.”
Immanuel Kant

T

o many, dissection in high
school biology may seem a relic
of the past; however, the majority of biology teachers that I
work with still hold steadfastly to its use.
As a biology faculty member with Boulder High School, I have experienced
this first-hand. My choice to not use
dissection is the subject of this article.
This decision was strongly opposed by
some members of my school’s biology
department and administration. While
I was ultimately awarded permission
to use alternatives, it was not without
many barriers to overcome. I hope other
biology teachers who oppose dissection
and experience pressure to do it anyway
can use my story to navigate this surprisingly tumultuous ground.
My story begins late January 2010,
when I was asked for my “rat order” by a
colleague, or, in other words, how many
preserved rat specimens I would need for

the anatomy unit
usually taught
in early April.
I asked for a
hold on ordering for my
classes until I
could address
some concerns
I had regarding
dissection. Two
weeks and lots of
research later, I
decided I would
not be dissecting, and informed the
other three regular-level biology teachers,
as well as our department head, of my
decision and rationale.
The next day, I scheduled a meeting with the school administration to
inform them of my decision. During
this meeting, I was told that “You will
do dissection,” and “You should be
looking for a job elsewhere if I feel like
you can’t fit in here [and do dissection].”
The discussion was heated and lasted 45
minutes. I explained my rationale for
choosing not to dissect: the educational
value of alternatives, my findings regarding cost and disposal issues, as well as a
gamut of ethical concerns. With no resolution in sight, the matter was moved
to the next level, and I was scheduled to
meet with our principal.
One meeting turned to four, during
the last of which I received a written
directive that said I must do dissection or

10 2011 Humane Teachers for Humane Students

vacate my classroom without pay while
a substitute teaches dissection. I filed a
grievance against that directive, and three
weeks later attended a meeting with our
district assistant superintendant and head
of human resources, the principal and
assistant principal of my school, and two
representatives from the teachers’ union.
I’m not sure what it was that shifted
the district administration’s thinking. It
may have been data I presented from an
anonymous survey asking my students
how many would like to opt out of dissection. It may have been letters from
two students who had taken biology in
previous years, sharing their negative
experiences with dissection. Whatever
the reason, I was given permission to
teach a non-dissection alternative to all
of my students who wanted it. Joyfully,
during the first two weeks of April 2010,
with the help of materials borrowed from
Animalearn, I taught anatomy without
harming one animal.
Planning the lessons was simple. I
adapted the traditional rat dissection
manual used by the other teachers in
my department to correlate with the rat,
cat, and shark models I borrowed from
Animalearn’s The Science Bank. Some
wording needed to be changed. For instance, where the traditional manual said
“cut here,” my manual did not, but all
of the structures students were expected
to find during the traditional dissection
were visible on the models. Use of the
models required less time than traditional

Photos by Istockphoto (this page) and courtesy of Animalearn (opposite)